New job-creation chief weighs strategy

Steve Waters is the new board chairman for the San Antonio Economic Development Foundation.

Steve Waters is the new board chairman for the San Antonio Economic Development Foundation.

Image 2 of 4

Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff, in straw hat, and Texas State Senator Carlos Uresti, in dark suit, arrive at Halliburton's San Antonio Operations Center on Loop 1604 just west of I-37 on the south side, for their grand opening, on Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2013. less

Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff, in straw hat, and Texas State Senator Carlos Uresti, in dark suit, arrive at Halliburton's San Antonio Operations Center on Loop 1604 just west of I-37 on the south side, for ... more

Photo: San Antonio Express-News

Image 3 of 4

Joe Foster, right, VP of Business Development, and Neil Schmidt, Sr District Manager, enjoy a laugh after the ribbon cutting for Halliburton's San Antonio Operations Center on Loop 1604 just west of I-37 on the south side. Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2013. less

Joe Foster, right, VP of Business Development, and Neil Schmidt, Sr District Manager, enjoy a laugh after the ribbon cutting for Halliburton's San Antonio Operations Center on Loop 1604 just west of I-37 on the ... more

Photo: San Antonio Express-News

Image 4 of 4

Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff arrives at Halliburton's San Antonio Operations Center on Loop 1604 just west of I-37 on the south side, for their grand opening, on Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2013.

Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff arrives at Halliburton's San Antonio Operations Center on Loop 1604 just west of I-37 on the south side, for their grand opening, on Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2013.

Photo: San Antonio Express-News

New job-creation chief weighs strategy

1 / 4

Back to Gallery

The board chairman of the San Antonio Economic Development Foundation has the job of being one of the main people selling the city to companies seeking to relocate or expand.

Normally, when a new chairman takes over, as Steven Waters did this month, he can talk about his goals for the two-year term.

Express Newsletters

Get the latest news, sports and food features sent directly to your inbox.

But Waters, USAA Real Estate Co.'s general counsel, is limited now because the foundation recently received a comprehensive new job-creation plan from the giant consulting firm Deloitte, which conducted interviews across the city starting in February. The $312,000 plan is being withheld from the public for the time being.

The Deloitte plan is so voluminous, with 144 strategies, that foundation leaders are trying to set priorities before making the plan public.

“We can't get on horses and go in all directions at one time. We won't get anything done,” said Waters, who became chairman Sept. 1, succeeding former Mayor Henry Cisneros.

“We're triaging, vetting the plan, deciding where to spend our time first. When we have the action steps, we will pull the covers back,” Waters said.

He has been involved with EDF since 1988, the year after he returned from Dallas to his home city as a Haynes and Boone lawyer. Waters joined USAA Real Estate after working for Haynes and Boone from 1975 to 2011.

As a business-oriented law firm, Haynes and Boone encouraged its lawyers to be active in the community. Waters has been North San Antonio Chamber of Commerce chairman and Real Estate Council of San Antonio president.

He watched as the foundation began taking public money in 2010 after more than 25 years of being funded completely from private-sector donations. The city and county each are in the midst of contracts of paying the foundation $500,000 a year, or $5 million over a five-year period.

The collaboration “is going pretty darn well,” Waters said. “There are more resources and more firepower for what we want to do,” he said, citing the expansion of the foundation staff and a new role, business retention.

“My opinion is that the foundation needs more human capital dedicated to business retention and expansion,” Waters said.

City political leaders applied pressure for a retention effort after AT&T abruptly moved its headquarters to Dallas from San Antonio in 2008.

“I think we are over that,” Waters said of the departure's sting. “It is irrelevant. We could have had the best business retention and expansion program, and (AT&T) would have made the same decision.”

Waters said he hopes the foundation can build various industry clusters in the coming two years, including aerospace, biotechnology, manufacturing, energy (especially related to Eagle Ford Shale drilling activity) and information technology/network security.

The one piece of advice in the Deloitte plan that Waters revealed is that the city should, like medical doctors, “do no harm,” meaning to not abandon the practices that have been successful in bringing new companies to San Antonio.

Two years from now, the tally of new business investments could be chalked up partly to the continued public/private collaboration, but the still-shrouded Deloitte plan also will be a large factor.

“I think we'll get a payoff,” Waters said, “not just from the amount of money we paid Deloitte, but from how we execute the plan. There's enough meat in the plan we can go many different directions.”